encode

"When the opiate receptors in the nucleus accumbens are activated, they stimulate an adjacent brain region, the ventral palladium, which, according to animal studies, may directly encode hedonic pleasure." (R.J. Davidson 'The Emotional Life of Your Brain')

I guess the meaning of 'encode' here has something to do with genetic code? How do you understand it?

I'd take it to mean something like 'register', Rzezucha. That's to say send messages indicating pleasure to the part of the brain that can read them.

I understand it as, with my poor knowledge of biology, that part of the brain is responsible for interpreting sensations of hedonic pleasure. Nothing to do with genetics here.