The head and neck are palpated for slight extension with lateral flexion to the contralateral side and rotation to the ipsilateral side; which muscle is palpated?

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The scalene muscles are the ones you’re targeting here. They run along the lateral neck and help with lateral flexion of the head, as well as elevating the first and second ribs. To feel them, you place the head in slight extension to relax the superficial muscles, then have the head bend to the opposite side (lateral flexion to the contralateral side) and rotate toward the same side (ipsilateral rotation). This positioning isolates the scalene fibers, which lie in that lateral neck groove and become prominent under your fingers as they contract.

Other muscles in this region don’t produce that exact combination of movements or are more involved with different actions (for example, the sternocleidomastoid tends to rotate the head to the opposite side), so that specific posture helps identify the scalene group.