Enactivists agree that there are models which we make but that these are not "mental models" that are stored in the brain in whatever way. Enactivists also think that the models people make or the conceptions they live by are "viable" or "coherent" with experience, but not reflections of the reality

In Autopoiesis and Cognition, the seminal text, Maturana and Varela discuss how organisms discern new aspects in a way that is very similar, IMO, to variation theory. There is a paper of von Foersters (very technical) for an idea in which thoughts are grouped tessellations.