Historical paper Remembering Mr B. Carl F. Craver a, *, Benjamin Graham b and R. Shayna Rosenbaum c,d a Philosophy-Neuroscience-Psychology Program, Washington University in St. Louis, United States b J.D. Candidate, Yale Law School, United States c Department of Psychology and Neuroscience Graduate Diploma Program, York University, Toronto, Canada d Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest, Toronto, Canada article info Article history: Received 20 September 2013 Reviewed 21 October 2013 Revised 28 October 2013 Accepted 7 November 2013 Action editor Roberto Cubelli Published online xxx Keywords: Working memory Amnesia Carbon monoxide poisoning Memory Self abstract In the accompanying translation and film, Gustav Sto ¨ rring describes the psychological profile of Mr. B. (Franz Breundl), a victim of carbon monoxide poisoning with a nearly complete short-term memory deficit. Sto ¨ rring diagnoses Mr. B. as lacking entirely the ca- pacity to register or retain any information in consciousness for longer than two seconds. Here we introduce these historical documents, describe their historical context, summa- rize and discuss the central features of the case, and consider the potential significance of the case for contemporary theories of working memory, the self, and personal identity. ª 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction 1 Franz Breundl (July 30, 1902eAugust 30, 1986) began his double life as Mr. B. on May 31, 1926, when carbon monoxide from smelting ovens flooded his workspace in Gelsenkirchen’s mammoth Schalker Verein. In the months, years, and decades to follow, this blast furnace repairman was seen by some of the most eminent European neurologists and psychologists. These specialists coalesced around the opinion that neuro- logical damage resulting from the poisoning had caused Mr. B. to lose entirely his Merkfa ¨higkeit: his capacity to register expe- riences in memory. Mr. B., they claimed, could hold nothing in consciousness for longer than about two seconds. * Corresponding author. Philosophy-Neuroscience-Psychology Program, 1 Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO 63105, United States. E-mail address: ccraver@artsci.wustl.edu (C.F. Craver). 1 The authors wish to thank Endel Tulving, for calling this paper to our attention. This document also benefited from discussions with Kevin Amidan, Pascal Boyer, Felipe de Brigard, Daniel Dennett, Eric Engstrom, Asaf Gilboa, Marcel Kinsbourne, Stan Klein, Roddy Roediger, Alex Reutlinger, Ken Kendler, Ken Schaffner, Corinna Treitel, Gerhild Williams, and Jeff Zacks. Thanks also to the laboratories of Daniel Schacter and Randy Buckner for feedback on an early presentation of this material. Craver thanks Lena Ka ¨ stner especially for comments on the essay and the translation, and for a daytrip to Gelsenkirchen. Thanks also to Colin McCaffrey and Brian Vetruba at Olin Library for assistance. We would also like to thank the German Federal Archive for assistance. Rosenbaum’s work was supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research grant #MOP93535. Ben Graham was supported by a grant from the Office of Undergraduate Research at Washington University in St. Louis. Available online at www.sciencedirect.com ScienceDirect Journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/cortex cortex xxx (2014) 1 e32 Please cite this article in press as: Craver, C. F., et al., Remembering Mr B., Cortex (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/ j.cortex.2013.11.001 0010-9452/$ e see front matter ª 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2013.11.001