If you ever experience them, you'll know it. It's a nerve thing and can be fixed by moving your cleat back a little bit.

Women who wear high heels experience the same thing ... in fact, I used to get hot spots from wearing high heels all the time, back when I wore high heels in the late 1980s/ early 1990s.

The first time I got hot spots with cycling, I recognized them immediately. My first solution was to go to the women's underwear department and pick up toe nylons ... the things women wear to help prevent hot spots with high heels. They cover the toes up to about mid-foot, and have a little pad under the ball of the foot. That worked, but moving the cleat back was a more permanent solution.

So if you've ever done a relatively lengthy walk in 4" heels, you know what hot spots are.

BTW - I use SPD pedals.