High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The memory system plays a key role in the decision-making process, because individuals choose among a set of alternative options constantly. Due to the pure volume of decisions people make, much of the decision making process is unconscious and automatic. Humans rapidly retrieve from memory ways in which they have handled a past decision, and use this information to make the optimal decision in the present moment. Although susceptible to any number of biases, as is the case of heuristics which also relies heavily on the memory system, memory is integral when creating preferences and differentiating between choices.