Final answer:
Visual encoding relies on the visual cortex's response to imagery and can be detected using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), which demonstrates greater memorability of high-imagery words through both visual and semantic encoding.
Step-by-step explanation:
Visual encoding is based on the relationship between voxel activation and structural characteristics of a scene, such as lines, contrasts, shapes, and textures. This type of encoding processes images, where the imagery of an object can create a stronger memory trace compared to abstract concepts. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) can illustrate this process by showing how the visual cortex is activated in response to visual stimuli. For instance, high-imagery words like car, dog, and book are likely more memorable than low-imagery words like level, truth, and value because they engage both visual and semantic encoding. Meanwhile, semantic encoding involves the encoding of words and their meaning, demonstrated by Bousfield's experiment where participants recalled words in categories according to their meanings. The visual cortex's response to imagery is crucial in visual encoding, and fMRI can detect such neuronal activation patterns.