Bilateral Left Cerebrum.Parietal Lobe.Precuneus.Gray Matter.Brodmann area 31 corresponds to cortical tissue in the medial parietal lobe, specifically a portion of the precuneus that overlaps with the posterior cingulate/retrosplenial region. Brodmann area 31 is associated with higher-order associative functions, including integration of visuospatial information, self-referential processing, and participation in the default mode network involved in autobiographical memory, internal mentation, and aspects of social cognition. Cytoarchitectonically, BA31 exhibits a granular isocortical structure typical of association cortex, with dense reciprocal connections to other parietal, frontal, and limbic areas, supporting its role as a hub for multimodal information integration and internal cognitive states. There is no direct link for Brodmann area 31 in the precuneus; a closely related structure is the Posterior cingulate cortex.
The bilateral precuneus (left cerebrum, parietal lobe, BA31 gray matter) has been repeatedly implicated in genetic studies of brain structure and function, particularly through imaging‑genetics and GWAS of cortical morphology and connectivity. Large consortia such as ENIGMA and UK Biobank have identified common variants near genes involved in neurodevelopment, synaptic regulation, and axonal guidance (e.g., MEF2C, CENPO, and loci in the MHC region) that are associated with precuneus cortical thickness, surface area, and resting-state connectivity within the default mode network. GWAS of cognitive traits, including general intelligence, memory, and attentional control, often highlight regions overlapping BA31, with polygenic risk scores for higher cognitive performance correlating with increased gray matter volume or more efficient connectivity in the precuneus. Psychiatric GWAS in schizophrenia, major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, and autism spectrum disorder have linked risk variants to structural and functional alterations in the precuneus, reflecting its role in self-referential processing, social cognition, and internal mentation, although the associations are typically indirect and mediated by widespread network effects. In Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative conditions, genetic risk factors such as APOE ε4 and variants in CLU, PICALM, and BIN1 have been associated with early hypometabolism, atrophy, and disrupted connectivity in BA31–precuneus regions, consistent with the precuneus’ vulnerability in default mode network degeneration. Overall, genetic influences on this Talairach-defined BA31 region appear to be highly polygenic and shared across cognitive and psychiatric phenotypes, with no single variant specific to the precuneus but many contributing to its development, structural integrity, and network function.
Overview generated by GPT-4o (2026).
Region ID: 856
Hemisphere: bilateral
Atlas: Talairach labels 2mm
Full Quality Version: Download MP4
Full Quality Version: Download MP4
Wali Sidiqyar*, Gaurav Rudravaram*, Elyssa M. McMaster, Trent M. Schwartz, Adam M. Saunders, Kurt G. Schilling, Bennett A. Landman "Introducing SPINS: A Shared Public Visualization Library of Neuroanatomical Structures." Medical Imaging with Deep Learning- short paper
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