  The deviations of the mid-transit times of an exoplanet from a linear
ephemeris are usually the result of gravitational interactions with other
bodies in the system. However, these types of transit timing variations (TTV)
can also be introduced by the influences of star spots on the shape of the
transit profile. Here we use the method of unsharp masking to investigate the
photometric light curves of planets with ambiguous TTV to compare the features
in their O - C diagram with the occurrence and in-transit positions of
spot-crossing events. This method seems to be particularly useful for the
examination of transit light curves with only small numbers of in-transit data
points, i.e., the long cadence light curves from Kepler satellite. As a proof
of concept we apply this method to the light curve and the estimated eclipse
timing variations of the eclipsing binary KOI-1452, for which we prove their
non-gravitational nature. Furthermore, we use the method to study the rotation
properties of the primary star of the system KOI-1452 and show that the spots
responsible for the timing variations rotate with different periods than the
most prominent periods of the system's light curve. We argue that the main
contribution in the measured photometric variability of KOI-1452 originates in
g-mode oscillations, which makes the primary star of the system a {\gamma}-Dor
type variable candidate.
