DropGNN: Random Dropouts Increase the Expressiveness of Graph Neural Networks

This paper studies Dropout Graph Neural Networks (DropGNNs), a new approach that aims to overcome the limitations of standard GNN frameworks. In DropGNNs, we execute multiple runs of a GNN on the input graph, with some of the nodes randomly and independently dropped in each of these runs. Then, we combine the results of these runs to obtain the final result. We prove that DropGNNs can distinguish various graph neighborhoods that cannot be separated by message passing GNNs. We derive theoretical bounds for the number of runs required to ensure a reliable distribution of dropouts, and we prove several properties regarding the expressive capabilities and limits of DropGNNs. We experimentally validate our theoretical findings on expressiveness. Furthermore, we show that DropGNNs perform competitively on established GNN benchmarks.

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Task Dataset Model Metric Name Metric Value Global Rank Result Benchmark
Graph Classification D&D DropGIN Accuracy 78.151±3.711 # 29
Graph Classification ENZYMES DropGIN Accuracy 65.128±4.117 # 22
Molecular Property Prediction ESOL DropGIN RMSE 0.520±0.048 # 4
R2 0.935±0.012 # 5
Graph Regression ESR2 DropGIN R2 0.675±0.000 # 3
RMSE 0.503±0.675 # 3
Graph Regression F2 DropGIN R2 0.886±0.000 # 4
RMSE 0.343±0.886 # 4
Molecular Property Prediction FreeSolv DropGIN RMSE 0.657±0.059 # 2
R2 0.972±0.005 # 2
Graph Classification IMDb-B DropGIN Accuracy 75.7% # 20
Graph Classification IMDb-M DropGIN Accuracy 51.4% # 15
Graph Regression KIT GINDrop R2 0.835±0.000 # 3
RMSE 0.441±0.835 # 3
Graph Regression Lipophilicity DropGIN RMSE 0.552±0.012 # 5
R2 0.809±0.008 # 5
Graph Classification MUTAG DropGIN Accuracy 90.4% # 21
Graph Classification NCI1 DropGIN Accuracy 84.331±1.564 # 21
Graph Classification NCI109 DropGIN Accuracy 83.961±1.141 # 8
Graph Regression PARP1 DropGIN R2 0.920±0.000 # 5
RMSE 0.354±0.920 # 5
Graph Regression PGR GINDrop R2 0.702±0.000 # 3
RMSE 0.527±0.702 # 3
Graph Classification PROTEINS DropGIN Accuracy 76.3% # 52
Graph Classification PTC DropGIN Accuracy 66.3% # 19

Methods