The fusion–evaporation reaction 116Sn (19F, p3n) 131Ce atprojectile energy of 95 MeV is used to populate high spin states in131Ce. The de-exciting γ-rays are detected in γ–γcoincidence measurement with Compton-suppressed BGO-HPGe detectors.Level lifetimes of 131Ce were determined by using the Doppler shiftattenuation method. The experimental results indicate that collectivityof 131Ce is reduced relative to that of 130Ceand it follows that deformation decreases with increase of the neutronnumber on the basis of systematic comparison of transition quadrupolemoments for the light cerium isotopes.