Neider says the delays older adults exhibited in starting to cross the street are probably due to "cognitive interference" rather than excessive caution.

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For this act of excessive caution, Ms Rice deserves little blame: as special adviser on Soviet affairs, she had a mid-level position, concerned mainly with staff work.

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If the head of government underreacts when the country is threatened, history is not likely to excuse him on the grounds that his excessive caution enjoyed bipartisan support.

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This could be just excessive caution.

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But the chancellor's actions seem to imply that the banks' caution is excessive.

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Such caution may seem excessive.

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