1. A system for rank-ordering and cognitive saliency schema-based selection, the system comprising: one or more processors and a non-transitory computer-readable medium having executable instructions encoded thereon such that when executed, the one or more processors perform operations of: receiving a set of unnormalized probabilities corresponding to a set of objects competing for attentional selection in a current environment, wherein each unnormalized probability in the set of unnormalized probabilities is based on a likelihood estimation of encountering the corresponding object in the current environment; ranking the set of objects based on a set of cognitive saliency values corresponding to the set of objects to generate a rank-ordered list of cognitive saliency values, wherein the set of cognitive saliency values is proportional to the set of unnormalized probabilities; analyzing the rank-ordered list of cognitive saliency values to detect a schema of the current environment by which the set of objects is ranked; learning and storing the schema along with a reward measure of the schema's utility; and selecting a maximum saliency object in the set of objects based on the rank-ordered list of cognitive saliency values.