Head and Neck Muscles Quiz

1. Which muscle, acting bilaterally, helps extend the head and cervical spine?

2. Which muscle acts as the sphincter that closes the eyelids?

3. An injury to the spinal accessory nerve causes weak shoulder elevation and difficulty turning the head. Which pair of muscles is principally affected?

4. A person has difficulty turning the face to the left after an isolated muscle injury. Which muscle is most directly associated with that lost movement?

5. When the hyoid is fixed, which infrahyoid muscle can elevate the larynx during swallowing?

6. Which deep anterior neck muscle helps flex the head at the upper cervical joints?

7. Which extrinsic tongue muscle is primarily responsible for protruding the tongue?

8. While chewing, food repeatedly collects between the teeth and cheek. Weakness of which muscle best explains this problem?

9. A patient struggles to protrude the mandible and initiate jaw opening. Which muscle is most likely impaired?

10. Which prominent muscle serves as the surface landmark separating the anterior and posterior triangles of the neck?

11. With the hyoid bone stabilized, which muscle can help depress the mandible to open the mouth?

12. Most muscles of facial expression receive their motor innervation from which cranial nerve?

13. During the early phase of swallowing, which broad muscle forms much of the floor of the mouth and helps elevate the hyoid and tongue?

14. Which facial muscle draws the corner of the mouth upward and laterally, as in smiling?

15. After a right hypoglossal nerve injury, in which direction will the tongue typically deviate when protruded?

16. Which muscle both elevates the mandible and helps retract it after protrusion?