Brodmann area 31, also known as dorsal posterior cingulate area 31, is a subdivision of the cytoarchitecturally defined cingulate region of the cerebral cortex

Cerebral cortex

The cerebral cortex is a sheet of neural tissue that is outermost to the cerebrum of the mammalian brain. It plays a key role in memory, attention, perceptual awareness, thought, language, and consciousness. It is constituted of up to six horizontal layers, each of which has a different...

. In the human it occupies portions of the posterior cingulate gyrus and medial aspect of the parietal lobe

Parietal lobe

The parietal lobe is a part of the Brain positioned above the occipital lobe and behind the frontal lobe.The parietal lobe integrates sensory information from different modalities, particularly determining spatial sense and navigation. For example, it comprises somatosensory cortex and the...

. Approximate boundaries are the cingulate sulcus

Cingulate sulcus

The cingulate sulcus is a sulcus on the medial wall of the cerebral cortex. The frontal and parietal lobes are separated by the cingulate sulcus from the cingulate gyrus.-External links:* via the Neuroscience Information Framework...

 dorsally and the parieto-occipital sulcus caudally. It partially surrounds the subparietal sulcus, the ventral continuation of the cingulate sulcus in the parietal lobe. Cytoarchitecturally it is bounded rostrally by the ventral anterior cingulate area 24, ventrally by the ventral posterior cingulate area 23, dorsally by the gigantopyramidal area 4 and preparietal area 5 and caudally by the superior parietal area 7 (H) (Brodmann-1909).