Presticogito, ergo sum

Via 3 Quarks Daily, here's a word you won't find in the OED, despite the creator's best efforts. But it might be worth using on the rare occasion.

In the mid-1980s, Vanden Bosch -- my English professor and now my colleague at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Mich. -- coined the word "presticogitation." It's a spin-off of the word "prestidigitation," which means "sleight of hand" and is used to describe magicians (derived from the French "preste," meaning "nimble, quick," and the Latin "digitus" for "finger.")

"Presticogitation" is the cerebral equivalent -- "rapid mental processing that commands compliance because of its speed and beauty," as Vanden Bosch defines it.

UPDATE:

I would like to coin a word perhaps more apt for our times: "impresticogitation."