From The Tipping Point

Here we go again.

Wegner argues that when people know each other well, they create an implicit joint memory system — a transactive memory system — which is based on an understanding about who is best suited to remember what kinds of things. [...] Transactive memory is part of what intimacy means. In fact, Wegner argues, it is the loss of this kind of joint memory that makes divorce so painful. “Divorced people who suffer depression and complain of cognitive dysfunction may be expressing the loss of their external memory systems,” he writes. “They once were able to discuss their experiences to reach a shared understanding…. They once could count on access to a wide range of storage in their partner, and this, too, is gone…. The loss of transactive memory feels like losing a part of one’s own mind.”

Yep, that is interesting.

The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell