Remembering Mr B.

In the accompanying translation and film, Gustav Stِrring describes the psychological profile of Mr. B. (Franz Breundl), a victim of carbon monoxide poisoning with a nearly complete short-term memory deficit. Stِrring diagnoses Mr. B. as lacking entirely the capacity to register or retain any information in consciousness for longer than two seconds. Here we introduce these historical documents, describe their historical context, summarize and discuss the central features of the case, and consider the potential significance of the case for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.